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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Team St. Luke’s set for nationals

Staff And Wire Services

Team St. Luke’s of Spokane is on a roll – literally and figuratively.

Its two youth wheelchair basketball teams will head to national championship tournaments in Denver April 8-11 after collecting one title and two second-place finishes the last two weekends.

The prep team, for players 13 and younger, won its division in the West Coast Conference Championships last weekend in Berkeley, Calif.

After losing its first game, Team St. Luke’s avenged that defeat in stringing together four wins for the title. Kelsie Christiansen of Arlington Elementary was named MVP of the division.

Other players on the St. Luke’s prep team are Josh Brewer (Bowdish), Mikila Salazar (Centennial), Isaiah Rigo (Windsor) and Michael Hoyt (Shiloh).

Team St. Luke’s 10-foot team, which is ranked eighth nationally, finished second in both the West Coast Regionals two weekends ago in Covington, Wash., and the West Coast Championships in Berkeley. It had a 3-2 record in the regional, both losses to longtime nemesis San Diego. St. Luke’s was 3-1 in Berkeley, the loss to the nationally second-ranked team. (There was no prep division in the regional.)

Members of the 10-foot team are Austan Pierce (Ferris), Austin Pruitt (Central Valley), William Robbins (Springdale), Mariah Alexander (North Central), Casey Ziegler (Benton City, Wash.), Kasey Andrews (Riverside), Kyle Bocook (Shaw Middle School) and Amberlynn Weber (CV).

Chad Farrington, Tomie Zuchetto and Leann Anzalone are the coaches. Teresa Skinner is program coordinator.

The older team, for high school-aged athletes, uses 10-foot baskets (hence the designation) and NCAA rules compared to 81/2-foot baskets for the prep teams.

College scene

Ten former standout Gonzaga athletes were recognized when the West Coast Conference selected its 25th Anniversary teams celebrating 24 years of women’s sports in the conference.

Rower Maria Bokulich, volleyball player Kelley Cunningham, cross country runner Cheska Fairbanks and basketball player Stephanie Hawk were named to the team.

Earning honorable mention were Jennifer Mountain (basketball), Mary Kate Morgan (golf), Lisa Petticord (volleyball), Ivy Safranski (basketball), Kelly Steinhaus (rowing) and Sara Streufert (soccer).

Buddy Wood from Chattaroy (Riverside High), a 2009 graduate and AFCA Division II All-American, leads a list of four athletes with area ties named to Central Washington’s 2000-09 All-Decade football team. He was a linebacker.

Also selected were Jake Roberts, a wide receiver from University (2000-03), and defensive linemen T.J. Horgan from East Valley (1999-2002) and Mitch Reffett from Moses Lake (2005-08).

•Four Community College of Spokane players were named to Northwest Athletic Association of Community College winter All-Academic teams in basketball.

Clara Hull from Pateros, Wash., was on the women’s team, while Griffon Jones of Cheney, Kevin Bond of Gonzaga Prep and Chris Pynch of Yakima (Riverside Christian) were men’s selections.

Bowling

Cheryl Gould and Mike Saville were perfect as they led a record-smashing night for Harper’s Conoco in the King Distributing League at Valley Bowl on Feb. 4.

Gould, who had collected her first 700 three-game series two weeks earlier in the league, put together 12 strikes for her first 300 game, and Saville duplicated the feat, giving the teammates back-to-back 300s and the momentum to break the city three-person mixed team three-game record. Saville pounded out an 804 series, Gould had a 743 and teammate Sandy Hanson a 688 for a 2,235 total.

That eclipsed the record of 2,187 set by Ervin Logan (713), LeeAnn Logan (682) and Dick Froman (783) during the 1997-98 season at Deer Park Lanes.

Softball

The Idaho High School Activities Association state clinic for District 1 coaches and umpires will be Tuesday at Coeur d’Alene High School. Umpires will get together at 6 p.m., with the coaches joining them at 7.

Info: David Broughton, (208) 290-6577.

Track and field

Justin Zimmerman of Ferris is among seven high school seniors who have signed national letters of intent with Washington State, Cougars head coach Rick Sloan announced.

Joining Zimmerman, who helped the Saxons win the Greater Spokane League and State 4A cross country titles in the fall, as men’s signees are Kyle Boe, first-team all-state after a fifth-place finish for Columbia River of Vancouver, Wash., in the State 3A cross country meet; Andrew “Drew” Jordan of Medford, the 2009 Gatorade cross country runner of the year in Oregon, a two-time State 6A champion; Wilder Schaaf of Ashland, Ore., two-time all-state in cross country and state track champion at 1,500 and 3,000; and Mack Young of Redmond, Wash., the 2008 State 4A cross country champion who was sixth in 2009 coming off an injury.

Slated to join the Cougars women are Sarah Bobbe and Allison Clark, teammates at Columbia River. Both had two top-10 finishes at State 3A cross country championships.